Lions coach Daniel Allen Campbell criticises Alabama coach Kalen Deboer.
Lions coach Dan Campbell criticises Alabama coach Kalen Deboer.
Grant Nelson has played the role of a center more often for Alabama in recent games.
Sitting atop the SEC to begin February, Alabama men’s basketball has an opportunity to repeat as the conference’s regular-season champions and earn another top seed in next month’s SEC tournament.
But as Alabama prepares to host Mississippi State on Saturday in Coleman Coliseum, the Tide has settled into a different lineup that in particular marks a shift in how marquee offseason transfer Grant Nelson is being used. Nelson has started Alabama’s past two games at center, upping the 6-foot-11 senior’s presence in the post while making him a more selective shooter from long range.
Nelson, who started the first two-and-a-half months of the season at power forward, becomes Alabama’s third starting center this season. Mohamed Wague’s playing time has fluctuated as he’s dealt with a lingering foot injury, while Nick Pringle lost his starting job last weekend against LSU, was suspended for Wednesday’s trip to Georgia and remains suspended Friday.
“At North Dakota State, that’s where he played a lot of his games down the post more,” coach Nate Oats said this week on The Nate Oats Show. “We played him a lot more on the perimeter, but now we’re starting to mix him back in the post a little bit more, get him some confidence.”
Nelson shot an efficient 8-of-11 from the field in Athens, scoring multiple times in the paint, while he recorded a team-high two blocks. Nelson missed his first two three-pointers before burying two in the final two minutes to seal the Tide’s comeback win.
“He’s definitely not afraid of the moment,” Oats said. “I was super happy for him.”
Oats mentioned after the game that Nelson had been shooting 40 percent on threes in practice but it had not translated into games until the closing minutes Wednesday night. Before his two makes, Nelson was shooting 19-of-76 (25 percent) on the season and 3-of-16 (19 percent) in SEC games.Three-point shooting had been the main reason why Nelson, who explored the NBA draft last spring, returned to school. Alabama’s wide-open offensive system provided Nelson an opportunity to showcase his skills as a shooter, and Alabama planned in the preseason for Nelson to play “like a guard,” which worked at times early this season against mid-major opponents. But Nelson struggled against higher-level competition, shooting 14-of-42 (33 percent) in three consecutive December losses to Purdue, Creighton and Arizona while making only 22 percent (6-of-27) of his three-point shots.
Nelson’s three-point attempts have ticked down since. After averaging 4.6 per game against non-conference opponents, he has attempted only 2.25 per SEC game, and no more than three until Wednesday night. His overall field-goal attempts have also decreased while his field-goal percentage has increased from 45 percent in non-league games to 51 percent against SEC teams.
“He’s done a good job not taking too many [threes] but taking appropriate ones,” Oats said.
Oats turned to the smaller lineup with Nelson at center against LSU in part because of slow starts against Auburn and earlier games. The early-game results were better against LSU but Alabama regressed considerably against Georgia, falling into a 17-2 hole while being out-rebounded, 27-7, in the first half. Oats pointed to the smaller lineup being a potential liability on the glass.
“We’ve got to rebound better,” Oats said Friday. “That’s an issue. When you move him away from the four, it’s not that we’ve necessarily taken a step backward when we moved him to the five — he’s actually a better rebounder than some of our other fives, particularly on the defensive end — but it’s the fact that we no longer have him at the four. That’s where our issues have been.”
Rylan Griffen started at the four the past two games but freshmen Jarin Stevenson and Mo Dioubate have also seen playing time at that spot with Nelson at center.”Get some size to kind of help Grant on the interior there with the rebounds,” Oats said. “Shoot, at halftime there against Georgia, when we were getting destroyed on the glass, our three guys that have played all the minutes at the five — Mo Dioubate, Mo Wague and Grant — had played 25 minutes and had one rebound combined. Those guys have got to do a better job rebounding the ball for us.”
Mississippi State comes to Tuscaloosa with a 3-5 conference and 14-7 record, both below preseason expectations for a team that played without injured center Tolu Smith until New Year’s Eve. Smith scored 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting in Alabama’s 82-74 win in Starkville last month.
“Nelson has been one of our best post defenders,” Oats said. “He did the best job on Tolu last time we played them.”
But Nelson at center has benefits on the other side of the floor, too.
“Offensively, we’re better [with Nelson at center] because we can pull their five away from the rim a little more,” Oats said. “I like Grant at the five. I like it offensively.”
– It was another busy day on the recruiting trail with more offers/re-offers being handed out and some last minute Junior Day visitors being confirmed. A full breakdown of weekend visitors can be found at the “JUNIOR DAY CENTRAL” link.
– It appears two more off-the-field staff hires have been finalized. Jerret McElwain flipped his social media to reflect his assistant director of player personnel role. Erod Hodges tweeted out “Roll Tide” earlier this afternoon.
– McElwain is the son of former Alabama OC Jim McElwain. Hodges will be the associate director of player personnel. Bama247 has a great feature on what he brings to the recruiting trail HERE.
– Bama247 caught up with recently re-offer ‘25 receiver Vernell Brown III (Orlando, FL) again after coach DeBoer and coach Shephard met with him on Thursday afternoon. Alabama has done a really good early of making Brown III feel like a priority. Read his latest thoughts HERE.
Anything you might have missed from Thursday can be read HERE.
Coaches on the Road
Another day, another busy afternoon of traveling for some Alabama assistant coaches. Here are some of the confirmed stops:
Defensive coordinator Kane Wommack was in California and handed out offers/re-offers to a whole bunch of Mater Dei High School prospects.
Offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb was, in fact, on the recruiting trail as well. He stopped in Greensboro, NC to offer 2026 No. 6 QB Faizon Brandon.
Coach Deboer, offensive line coach Scott Huff and defensive line coach Freddie Roach spent some time in Kansas and handed out two offers/re-offers to 2025 offensive tackles.
Running backs coach Robert Gillespie made a few stops in Louisiana for a pair of running back targets. He checked in with four-star James Simon in Shreveport (already had offer) and delivered an offer to Jasper Parker in Marrero, LA.
